Childhood Gifts
by Crimson Dyed Silk
Summary: Claude has a special gift he wishes to give to a certain redhead in his class. The only problem is he doesn't think she'll appreciate it.


"Grell, sweetheart, a young man is here to see you!" Her mother called, poking her head into her daughter's bedroom. "He says he has something for you."

The little girl lifted her head, soft red hair framing her face. "Who is it, Mommy?" Grell barely ever got any children to play with her, much less a boy. Secretly she hoped it was William coming to bring her chocolates and ask her to eat lunch with her on Monday.

"Oh, um.." Grell's mom faltered a little bit, trying to remember the child's name. "OH! His name is Claude! Claude Faustus, I believe is his full name." She took Grell's hand and led her down the stairs to the front door. "He seems nice, darling. Return the favor."

Grell bit her lip as she walked down the stairs with her mother, only half listening to what she was telling her. Claude Faustus was known as the creepiest guy in her first grade class. He was always playing with spiders and he always sat by himself whenever they had free time. Truthfully, she felt a little sorry for him and she'd defended him once last week against William and Sebastian, who were pushing him under a tree. Grell didn't know why they were picking on him, but it didn't seem like he was going to fight back so she stepped in and did it for him. Of course, after the fact, Claude insisted that he would have done it, but Grell could tell he wouldn't have.

Overall, Claude Faustus seemed like a sweet enough person to her, but he certainly wasn't William. When she saw him standing in her doorway, he was shuffling his feet and holding his hands behind his back. Grell looked up at her mom, tugging on her jacket. "Can Claude and I go play on my swing set?"

"Sure, honey. Just show him around to where it is." Her mom replied as she walked off.

Grell turned her attention back to Claude and smiled a little, waving. "Hi, Claude..Would you like to play outside with me?" She asked shyly, unsure if the boy would even want to play with her or not.

"Yeah, I'd love to play with you!" He said maybe a little too excitedly. Grell giggled behind her hand, amused with Claude's lack of restraint. She showed him the way to their backyard and sat down on the swing.

"Come show me what you have behind your back!" The little girl beckoned the boy over and Claude pulled the two items behind her back. He'd brought her beautiful red roses that matched her hair perfectly, and he also brought her a spider in a tiny habitat box. "Ew, Claude! Get it away!" She screamed, tripping over her swing and falling backwards.

As Grell started to cry from the fall, Claude immediately dropped the gifts he was holding and rushed over to the other, giving her a quick once over to find out what was wrong. It was only a small cut on her leg, really, but it was definitely bleeding. "Please don't cry, Grell...I can fix it!" He stammered, recalling the bandage that he had in his back pocket from earlier when he fell. "Here see? I even have a bandaid for you!" Claude pulled the covered strip out and was about to unwrap it before he realized it would have to be cleaned. "Wait right here! I'll be right back!"

Grell nodded and Claude ran off into Grell's house, searching for the kitchen. He finally found it, but the sink was too high fro him to reach it. The boy looked around to find a makeshift step stool, eventually using an overturned bucket. He wet a paper towel quickly and rushed it back to Grell, kneeling beside her.

"Wow, that was really quick, Claude.." Grell said in amazement. No one except her parents had ever rushed to help her so quickly and she thought it was cute Claude would want to do such a thing.

While she was deep in thought, Claude lightly brushed Grell's cut free of dirt and blood, making sure the entire area was clean. He kissed the injury as his mom would have done, making Grell blush and hide her face behind the swing. The boy proceeded to place the bandage over the area, pressing the ends to make sure the bandage stayed. "There, I told you I could fix it." He smiled, looking up at her.

Grell returned the smile, noticing that Claude's was a bit dorky looking, but she liked it. "Thanks.." She replied, looking over Claude's shoulder to see the flowers and spider on the ground. The boy turned to see what she was looking at, rushing over to pick up the flowers and bringing them back to her.

"I..I brought you this to say thanks for being nice to be before.." He stuttered, holding out the flowers. "You don't have to take the spider. I'm sorry for scaring you.." Claude was met with a kiss to the cheek and his face brightened enough to envy a tomato.

"It's okay, Claude. I'll keep both." Grell sat back on the swing, holding out the one next to her for Claude to sit in. He eagerly got in the swing, keeping his head down. "So why were they picking on you anyway?" She asked curiously. Normally everyone would just leave Claude alone, but that day they seemed intent on picking on him and Grell wanted to know why.

The boy hesitated for a moment, not wanting to tell Grell why they were messing with him, it was embarrassing. "It was because they found a note on my desk. I was going to give it to you, but they found it first." He explained slowly, knowing he was taking a big risk telling Grell this. "I was going to ask you to have lunch with me because I like you. William said you would never though because you didn't like me back, but they were still going to give you my note.." Claude stayed silent then and waited for Grell to respond.

Grell stopped swinging as she listened to what had transpired between the three boys and a deep frown crossed her face. "I'm going to punch them on Monday.." She said as she grabbed the chain on Claude's swing to stop his swinging as well. "I like you too, Claude..and I'll eat lunch with you every day, if you want." She looked over at the dark-haired boy, who was nervously adjusting his glasses.

"You will?"

"Yeah, I will.." Grell assured, holding Claude's hand shyly. "Don't worry about Sebastian and William anymore. They won't pick on you as long as I have something to say about it."

Claude looked up and moved his swing over so that he could give Grell a hug. "Thanks..." Grell wrapped her arms around Claude and hugged him back happily.

"Come on, I'll ask my mom to make us lunch today, okay?" She stood up, tugging on his hand.

"Okay!" Claude picked up the spider and roses, holding them in his free hand as they walked back to the house.

Grell kept a tight hold on Claude's hand as they made their way through her backyard, happy that Claude had told her everything. Maybe Claude would be better than William. Maybe he'd even be her boyfriend one day.


End file.
